NASCAR Championship team owner Barney Visser returns to the track

On Saturday at Daytona International Speedway, championship owner Barney Visser made his first public appearance since a November heart attack grounded him from all NASCAR activities. After largely ignoring warning signs for six months – people, don’t be like Barney – the 68-year-old from Denver, Colorado took himself to a hospital the Saturday before the Nov. 5 race in Texas. “On the gurney, on the way to the angiogram, it felt like somebody was ripping my chest open,” he explained. “I started complaining and they handed me a nitroglycerin pill. I passed out at that point and don’t remember much after that. I do remember a bossy little woman who was the doctor, an angioplasty specialist. Everyone was terrified of her. She was something else.Welcome back, Barn. It’s good to see you again. By Al Pearce

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will hold a press briefing today in order to discuss the White House’s latest plans and administrative agenda. The briefing is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m. ET. There’s a strong chance Sanders will be asked about whether a White House staff shake-up is imminent in light of Rex Tillerson‘s firing this week. The secretary of state is the latest major figure to depart from the administration, and even though President Donald Trump has downplayed reports about this earlier today, recent indications suggest that a few more high-ranking officials might soon be out of the…... [Read more]

After years of scrapping, Robert Yates is at the top of the Winston Cup heap. Following his acquisition of the former Ranier Racing team in 1987, he seemed to be on a path to the championship with young driver Davey Allison. Tragically, the quest for a championship was diverted with the untimely death of Allison. Through several difficulties during the intervening years, Yates teams were always a threat, but the final link to the championship came with the hiring of Dale Jarrett. The chemistry was completed with the addition of Todd Parrott as crew chief, and the rest, as they…... [Read more]

Team Penske has bolstered its front office by hiring former team owner Robby Benton.The 38-year-old will serve as NASCAR team manager, effective immediately, reporting to competition director Travis Geisler. Benton previously co-owned RAB Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and Change Racing in IMSA.Benton will help handle various administrative and competition-related duties for Penske’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series programs."I’m very happy to join an operation like Team Penske," said Benton. "Anyone that is involved in this sport has a tremendous amount of respect for Roger Penske. He has a world class operation and expects nothing but…... [Read more]

After six years together, the Ohio-based ThorSport Racing NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team announced on Tuesday that it had split from Toyota.During that span, the team captured two driver championships with Matt Crafton, 19 overall victories, 117 top-fives and 227 top-10s, 10 poles and 2,900 laps led.Autoweek reached out to the team and an official said new manufacturer details will be announced as soon as possible. In addition, the complete driver and sponsor lineup for ThorSport will be released before the season-opening NextEra Energy Resources 250 on Feb. 16 at Daytona International Speedway.Team owner Duke Thorson has been a…... [Read more]

The Best Of Times … My best memory of being a car owner-because it was totally noncontroversial, and it appeared to be a sign of the team, driver, and crew chief coming together-was the ’98 victory at Pocono. I was wrong to anticipate that was the beginning of something wonderful, because we totally fell off the map after that. The best I have felt about the team is this year, because of what happened earlier at Talladega (the team was caught using an illegal fuel additive, although neither Kranefuss nor Mayfield were aware of it). The reaction from inside the…... [Read more]